Disclaimer: I own nothing of Mashima's.
Dia kept her eyes on the ground. Minho and Astrid kept their eyes on her. There was an awkward silence that everyone secretly acknowledged and hated. Astrid coughed. "So," Minho began. "What was all that about?"
Dia sniffled once, but remained silent. She glanced up only to see Astrid staring intensely at her. After a few more moments of silence and intense staring, Dia spoke up. "...You...promise we'll still be friends right? Even after I tell you?" She asked barely above a whisper. "Promise," her friends agreed.
She felt the faint urge to smile, but extinguished it in favor of a serious expression. "I...I'm not who you might think I am," She admitted somberly. They merely raised a brow. "I...was never really your friend, the Dia-chan you always went around with. She's...a fake.
I've been lying to you all the whole time, ever since we were taken. Yes, I was treated differently, but so was Gray-kun, but for different reasons. I'm not sure why Roseia treated him so highly, but I know why she treated me like she did."
"So? You're pretty cute, it'd be a waste to put you in a gritty environment like ours," Astrid joked. Dia's eyes widened slightly and she blushed for a moment. "T-That's not what I meant! This is serious! I've been lying to you for a long time, we were never real friends. I'm just on a mission," She cried.
"A mission?" Minho inquired. "Yes, the only reason I joined your group was for Gray-kun," Dia said. "For Gray? Just for him? Hehehe, I bet your love made you stay~" Astrid teased lightly with a hint of hurt laced in. Dia's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Haha, just joking~" Astrid said with uncharacteristic playfulness.
"I scouted him, for my use. My real name is Ayano Sasaki, not Dia. Before we were taken, I was placed somewhere else. Given to special people, to a former comrade…" She trailed off in thought.
"Former comrade?" Minho echoed. He and Astrid exchanged confused glances. "Yes, she was also a close friend of ours, until a certain event…" Ayano continued bitterly."And it seems I'm the only one capable of remembering her."
Astrid seemed to be deep in thought and Minho had an expression of disbelief. "What…what was her name?" He asked quietly. "Nagisa, Nagisa Kaname," Ayano replied.
"Why just you? Are we…not good enough?" Minho muttered, looking at the ground. "That's not the case. I remember it because I went through the loop. The loop of time experiment," Ayano said. "Loop of…" Astrid muttered before gasping and raising her hands slightly, palms up. She whispered something incoherent and a purple light emitted from her hands. Seconds later, Amunet was in her grasp.
"Loop of time," She whispered. The book glowed briefly then nothing. Astrid frowned, "Loop of time," she repeated. Still nothing. Ayano's eyes brows furrowed as she frowned as well. "Your Loop of Time...it doesn't exist," Astrid muttered. Ayano shook her head fiercely, "I know what I'm talking about," She assured. "No, the Amunet knows of pretty much all supernatural things that have occurred or exist, and there's nothing about a Loop of Time. Nien."
"Then, your book must've not documented it yet. Besides, the Creators are much more advanced than an old book," Ayano countered. "Creators?" Minho echoed. "That's right, they're the ones that put me through that experiment. They also gave me my special abilities,"
Astrid was about to comment when a shiver shot up her spine. From their sudden changes in posture, Ayano and Minho had felt it too. They all turned toward Gray who was sitting up, but slouched. Tiny ice particles and fog was coming from his hands which were on the ground, palms down. His head was tilted down so that his eyes were hidden behind his hair.
"Gray…" Astrid started in a warning tone. He didn't respond. "Gray-kun…" Ayano said softly. Still no stood and walked over to him, keeping a close eye on the ice particles surrounding him."How long have you been awake?" She asked cautiously. Silence.
She sat down right in front of him and slowly extended her hand towards him. She felt the sting of frostbite from the ice magic but shrugged it off. "Be careful," Minho warned from behind her."Gray-kun, you're magic…it's getting out of control." She whispered, putting her fingertips to his cheek. After a few seconds, the particles dissipated and the temperature returned to normal.
"That's it Gray-kun…calm," Ayano murmured. Suddenly, he lurched forward, nearly faceplanting when Ayano caught him by the shoulders and pulled him into her chest. "That's it...it's alright…" She murmured soothingly. "You…" he muttered as he pulled away.
"Have you recovered?" She asked. "Recovered…?" He muttered, shaking his head slightly. " Do you remember anything?" She questioned. There was a moment of silence before he responded. "...It...depends on what to remember…" he muttered. Another moment of silence. "So you remember everything? I didn't think it would come to you all at once," She said quietly.
"What're you two talking about?" Minho asked, sliding in next to Gray. "Him other life," she said, glancing at him. "Other life?" He echoed, clearly puzzled. "Yes, Gray-kun went through something similar to what I experienced." "What do you mean?" Minho questioned. "She means that Gray went through a time loop too, right?" Astrid said, walking over to them.
Ayano shook her head and turned to them, "He didn't go through a time loop, he went through a different life. Roseia, when she took him captive, managed to break his mental barriers. This caused every memory that might've faded or been erased completely to return full force. Since he's had great trauma in the past, a lot of bad memories came back too. This greatly deteriorated his mental health causing his mindscape to corrupt, Astrid-chan and Roseia being in there didn't help either. As a result, he lived through a different life with memories of the life he experienced before .He didn't remember anything at first because his memories were blocked, a result of his mind trying to patch itself up."
Both Astrid and Minho gaped at her. "H-How could you have POSSIBLY know all of that?!" Minho exclaimed in disbelief.
Ayano smiled at them.
"I told you, I'm not the girl you used to know."
WHEW, SO LENGTHY. This took a few days, but it was worth it. Were you surprised at Ayano and Dia's real identities? It took quite some imagination to come up with that. Now we also know that Amunet actually works, but only for Astrid. Did anyone else read the newest chapter of Fairy Tail? I FREAKED OUT BUT FANGIRLED SO HARD, DEMON SLAYER GRAY FTW! I was slightly confused at Natsu's sudden dragon force, but whatever~
I failed at 50k words, but I never expected to make it in the first place. I made my own goal of 12k though, so that's good enough. No grammar check as usual!
Reviews are welcome as always ^u^